Course Description

Do you hear stirring speeches that inspire to go out and take to heart what the speaker was talking about? Do you wonder how some people can sell nearly anything simply by how they talk? If you do, then chances are you are wondering about being persuasive. Being persuasive is one of the greatest skills you can have, because a true master of persuasion can convince people to do nearly anything. Every great politician, army general, business leader and community organizer have been experts at persuasion because they have to inspire you to follow them.

You too can be an expert at persuasion. In fact, you can learn to be an expert in the most difficult type of persuasion: written persuasion. Being an expert at written persuasion means you have the ability to convince people not with your verbal skills, but with your written skills. Whether it is a business proposal, letter to the editor, advertisement, or even an essay, you will have the ability thanks to this comprehensive online course on how to persuade people with your written words.

By utilizing the tools within this Persuasive Writing Techniques class, you will find everything in your life increases, from your potential pay as you begin impressing bosses with your persuasive writing, to purchasing cars because you will know the persuasion tricks before they happen to you. Learning persuasion techniques can be one of the best skills you ever develop for yourself.

What Is Persuasion?

Before
we can get down to talking about persuasive writing techniques, we have
to look at exactly what persuasion is. How does persuasion influence
our lives and alter our decisions? Do we encounter it on a daily basis,
or is it something that we only see once in a while? To write effective
persuasion, we need to understand persuasion at its core.

Persuasion
is defined as a form of social influence where someone is guided,
usually by another person, toward an idea, attitude, or action through
symbolic, rational, and sometimes logical methods.

Aristotle,
who many feel is the father of persuasion with his essays and writings,
said that rhetoric is the art of discovering the available means of
persuasion. What does this mean exactly? It means that in conversations
between two individuals, whether consciously or unconsciously, there is
the effort to persuade someone to your point of view.

One
very well-known form of persuasion is propaganda. Propaganda is a
series of messages that are aimed at influencing the behaviors, and even
the opinions, of huge groups of people, often numbering in the
millions. Propaganda can come in a wide variety of forms, from complete
lies, to absolute truth (the most effective form), but are used to
produce an emotional response from the public, rather than a rational
one. This is often seen in wartime. Governments will put out posters
dictating that if you are not helping the war effort like your fellow
citizens, then you are siding with the enemy. Many posters in
England and the United States during World War II qualified as this type
of propaganda.These posters used many of the methods we have discussed
above:

Commitment. Many citizens believed fighting the Nazis and the Japanese was the right thing to do for the world.

Social Proof. By saying that their fellow citizens are fighting, the person seeing the poster is more likely to respond favorably.

Authority. Usually
it depicted Winston Churchill, a soldier, or Uncle Sam, telling the
person reading the poster to enlist and help the war effort.

Liking. The
people who read the poster most probably liked the authority figures in
them, or identified with them, and therefore were more likely to
respond favorably to them.

Writing
effective persuasion uses all the methods we have discussed here, in
various forms. Now that we understand what persuasion is, we can now
determine why we would want to write persuasively.

Completely Online

Self-Paced

6 Months to Complete

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Start Anytime

PC & Mac Compatible

Android & iOS Friendly

Accredited CEUs

Course Lessons

Average Lesson Rating:

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Lesson 1: What Is Persuasion?

Before we can get down to talking about persuasive writing techniques, we have to look at exactly what persuasion is. How does persuasion influence our lives and alter our decisions? 19 Total Points

Lesson 1 Video

Review Article: Laws of Influence and Persuasion

Take Poll: How Persuasive are You?

Complete Assignment: An Introduction

Complete: Lesson 1 Assignment: Persuasion and You

Complete Exam: Lesson 1: What Is Persuasion?

Lesson 2: Why Write Persuasively?

One of the most common questions relating to persuasion is why would you want to write persuasively? What point can there be to it? 14 Total Points

Lesson 2 Video

Complete: Lesson 2 Assignment: Persuasion Example

Complete Exam: Lesson 2: Why Write Persuasively?

Lesson 3: The Elements of Persuasion

There are several principles, or types, of persuasion. Various types of persuasion have the ability to convince people in different ways. 14 Total Points

Lesson 3 Video

Review Article: Deceptive Advertising

Complete: Lesson 3 Assignment: Deceptive Advertising

Complete Exam: Lesson 3: The Elements of Persuasion

Lesson 4: Understanding Reason and Emotion

In the last lesson, we briefly discussed the two main methods of persuasion, which were reason and emotion. In this lesson, we will go over these two methods in more detail. 14 Total Points

Lesson 4 Video

Review Article: Ethos, Pathos, Logos, and Statistics

Complete: Lesson 4 Assignment: Learning Persuasion

Complete Exam: Lesson 4: Understanding Reason and Emotion

Lesson 5: Determining a Goal

Now that we have looked at the various means of creating persuasion in a written document, we can then look at the first part of writing persuasion, which is determining the goal of what you are trying to persuade someone towards. 15 Total Points

Lesson 5 Video

Complete: Lesson 5 Assignment: Developing Your Thesis

Complete Exam: Lesson 5: Determining a Goal

Lesson 6: Convincing the Opposition

In this lesson, we are going to look at how you can convince the opposition that your point is right and that is what they should follow. 15 Total Points

Lesson 6 Video

Complete: Lesson 6 Assignment: Know Your Audience

Complete Exam: Lesson 6: Convincing the Opposition

Lesson 7: Brainstorming

While brainstorming is primarily done in groups, in this lesson, we will look at brainstorming in an individual setting. 14 Total Points

Lesson 7 Video

Complete: Lesson 7 Assignment: Brainstorming

Complete Exam: Lesson 7: Brainstorming

Lesson 8: The Introduction

The introduction is very important, because this is where you tell the reader and audience exactly what you are going to try and convince them of. 20 Total Points

Lesson 8 Video

Review Video: The Art of Writing Persuasively

Complete: Lesson 8 Assignment: Write Your Introduction

Complete Exam: Lesson 8: The Introduction

Lesson 9: Writing the Body

The body of the work is where all the points are, where all your information is, and where you make your arguments of why you want the reader to come over to your side. 15 Total Points

Lesson 9 Video

Review 2 Articles: Persuasive Writing; The Five Paragraph Essay

Complete: Lesson 9 Assignment: Develop Your Argument

Complete Exam: Lesson 9: Writing the Body

Lesson 10: Finding the Winning Argument

Your conclusion is very important to your entire persuasive argument, because a conclusion that stays in your reader's mind will help you convince them that your point of view is the right one. 19 Total Points

Lesson 10 Video

Complete: Lesson 10 Assignment: Writing Your Argument

Complete Exam: Lesson 10: Finding the Winning Argument

Lesson 11: Proofreading What You Have Written

One of the most important tasks that you need to accomplish with persuasive writing now needs to be done. It is proofreading, and without it you could find that your entire argument in the essay may fall flat. 14 Total Points

Lesson 11 Video

Review Article: Editing and Proofreading

Take Poll: Proofreading

Complete: Lesson 11 Assignment: Effective Proofreading

Complete Exam: Lesson 11: Proofreading What You Have Written

Lesson 12: Examples of Persuasive Writing

There are several types of persuasive writing that are used for different reasons. Some are good, some are bad, but all have the same goal in mind -- and that is to convince you, or someone else, that an opposing view is right. 13 Total Points

Lesson 12 Video

Review Article: Top 100 Speeches

Complete: Lesson 12 Assignment: Are You Persuaded?

Complete: Lesson 12: Examples of Persuasive Writing

Lesson 13: Applying Persuasive Writing in the World

If there is one thing humans are not always eager to do, it is change, and persuasive writing is all about change. 73 Total Points

Lesson 13 Video

Take Poll: Using Your SKills

Take Survey: Program Evaluation Follow-up Survey (End of Course)

Complete: Lesson 13 Final Assignment: How Will You Use Your Skills

Complete Exam: Lesson 13: Applying Persuasive Writing in the World

Complete: The Final Exam

259

Total Course Points

Learning Outcomes

By successfully completing this course, students will be able to:

Define persuasion and summarize reasons to write persuasively.

Define the elements of persuasion.

Demonstrate use of reason and emotion.

Determine a goal.

Know methods for convincing the opposition.

Brainstorm your idea.

Create an introduction.

Write the body.

Find the winning argument and use it appropriately.

Proofread, and

Demonstrate mastery of lesson content at levels of 70% or higher.

Additional Course Information

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Course Title:
Writing Effective Persuasion

Course Number:
8900122

Languages:
English - United States, Canada and other English speaking countries